I am an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto-Mississauga.

Friday, July 09, 2010

Bob Probert

Bob Probert died this weekend. As always, this is a shame for family and friends. It's also a shame for hockey. All of his problems aside, I think Probert was the best enforcer of his generation. First, he was universally feared. But, more importantly, he was also productive offensively. Consider his numbers against four other tough guys. Probert was good for 384 points in 935 NHL games. That's .41 points per game. Tie Domi? 0.24. Joey Kocur? .20. Stu Grimson? .05. George Laraque? .22. Marty McSorley, who played among the greatest offences in the game? .37.

An enforcer who can also put the puck in the net creates havoc for a defense. Is there another pure enforcer with numbers like Probert's? In fact, can you think of a single one who's had three 20 goal seasons? McGinnis? Bodet? Gimme your answers.

I don't think there are any pure enforcers that have 3 20 goal seasons, not even Probert. You have to drop the criteria for pims, rather than toughness. Guys like Cam Neely and Brendan Shanahan could have made a living fighting, but they're 50 goal guys. McSorley is a great story because he fought his way into the league and then turned into a player. His .37 pts per game is impressive given a long career and most of it played on defense. Probert's most impressive season was his first full season in the league: he got 62 pts in 74 games and 398 pims. In 16 playoff games that year he got 21 pts and 50 pims. Absolutely incredible. In the same playoff run Yzerman got 18 pts and 8 pims.

If .37 pts/gm is high enough to be considered an offensive threat, then Dave Schultz had to make the list, no? He was arguably the most feared player and toughest enforcer in the 1970s (it helps to have played for Philly too!)

Penalty mins/gm: 4.3Pts/gm: .37

His career was much shorter than Probert's, however, so in that sense it's not as impressive. I mean, it's hard enough to have a 15+ season career in the NHL, it's even harder when you play like Probert did night in and night out.

Also, what about Tiger Williams? Career leader in total pen. mins (almost 4,000, with 4.12/gm), and 0.53 pts/gm. He also had four 20-goal seasons.

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About Me

I am an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto. I am also crazy about motorcycles.
My academic site is here: http://web.me.com/peej.loewen
My bike site is here:
http://cairotothecape.blogspot.com